When the Humanity Association's Survey Ship—the six-hundred-meter blue vessel shaped like a whale—actually appeared before him, the impact on Yang Ming was still beyond words.
Although in the game Abyss, all he had to do was hang around a Deep Spaceport for a while to get almost the same visual experience.
But that sense of reality, and the oppressive presence of the ship's hull, couldn't compare to the simulated nerve signals produced by holographic gear.
Several small drones left the mothership and flew toward the Landing Ship where Yang Ming and Dr. Lina were.
Dr. Lina seemed to notice how nervous Yang Ming was. She reached out first, laying her warm, soft palm over the back of his hand. Leaning her slender body forward, she brought her face close to his, as if to whisper in his ear.
"Hanton, don't tell them anything. I'll find a way to help you."
Yang Ming frowned at Dr. Lina, who was right beside him.
He'd thought she was going to kiss him.
Dr. Lina continued whispering in his ear. "I have an Interstellar Medical License, and I'm only a ship's doctor serving the crew. The interstellar code of conduct includes a clause called 'Doctors are Innocent.'"
"Mm," Yang Ming replied with a nod.
His expression twitched, and he seemed about to say something, but in the end he said, "They'll probably detain me. If you manage to get free, I might need some medicine."
Yang Ming meant the Gene Stabilizer.
"Don't worry, Hanton. I know what you need. For now, all you have to do is protect yourself. I know you have depression."
Lina signaled for Yang Ming to stay quiet, then sat back normally and pulled over her seat belt, fastening it securely.
—Their ship was now under the Humanity Association's surveillance.
Yang Ming followed suit and fastened his seat belt.
He thought that if he'd just buckled up earlier, he might have avoided the injuries from the impact. Then Lina wouldn't have discovered that he'd been modified.
Still, wasn't Dr. Lina acting a little strangely?
She was far too calm.
The four drones slowly drew closer, scanning Yang Ming and Lina with beams of light. They were probably running checks.
Only then did Yang Ming get a chance to relax his taut nerves. He stared blankly at the Landing Ship's control panel.
Every detail here reminded Yang Ming that he was Hanton now.
As soon as he had a moment to himself, Yang Ming couldn't help thinking about several questions:
The truth about the game Abyss;
Why Earth had been destroyed;
Whether he had already changed the future.
If he'd changed the tragedy of Earth's explosion, then he wouldn't have been destroyed by the planet's fire, and he wouldn't have revived aboard the Research Ship... It seemed like a time paradox.
The key to unraveling all these mysteries was to find some connection between the world he was in now and the game Abyss.
The question was complicated, and Yang Ming soon found himself with a splitting headache.
What he could be sure of now was that he'd already changed something.
The Research Ship was gone, and Lost Voice, the Empire faction's level-thirty epic squad dungeon, no longer existed.
Geglov, who should have modified himself, had chosen to modify Captain Hanton instead. Then Geglov had detonated the Antimatter Bomb, reducing everything to nothing.
Where had things first started to change?
Yang Ming thought it had to be when he'd run to the bridge and spoken those two lines after the Valkyrie had been knocked out by the Hypnotic Gas.
That was the turning point.
For some reason, Yang Ming remembered a few details from his fight with the Valkyrie.
"She was wearing a patterned bra."
Yang Ming murmured under his breath.
Under her combat-suit-material robe, the Valkyrie had been wearing a delicate, snug, ultra-thin bra.
"What?" Dr. Lina thought she'd misheard him.
"Nothing," Yang Ming said with a smile. A trace of sadness passed through his eyes, then he returned to normal. "I was thinking about the tragedy that happened aboard the Research Ship."
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
As if someone were knocking, the four drones pressed close to the Landing Ship on either side.
The screen in front of Yang Ming shut down on its own. The Landing Ship's remaining auxiliary stabilizing engines went dark, and the four drones hijacked it, flying it toward the Survey Ship's side deck.
With the glow of the instruments inside gone, the universe seemed deeper, and the stars shone brighter.
Yang Ming sat quietly, lost in thought. A warm, soft hand rested on the back of his again.
Lina's gentle voice recited a passage of poetry:
"Don't turn away the breeze stirred by the stars.
"She will carry us to a brand-new world.
"Don't turn away the wrinkles in the vacuum.
"They are the guidance our forebears left for us..."
Yang Ming smiled and slowly closed his eyes.
He didn't know what lay ahead, but he had no choice but to keep going.
"Oh, Emperor Star," Lina suddenly said in a low voice. "I think I've gotten us into trouble. I brought this Survey Ship here, which exposed the locations of those two Escape Pods..."
Yang Ming blinked. "The Survey Ship was the one that captured us."
Lina turned to look at Yang Ming, as if trying to confirm something.
A few seconds later, she nodded lightly and said with some unease, "That's right. This doesn't seem to have anything to do with us."
Yang Ming turned his hand over and took her right hand, gently rubbing it.
"Relax, Lina. Nothing's going to happen."
Lina took a few deep breaths, then gave Yang Ming a grateful smile.
Now they each had something on the other.
The Landing Ship slowly approached the Blue Spaceship. A square entrance opened in the side deck, with faint guide lights flickering inside.
The four drones kept adjusting their angles, guiding the Landing Ship smoothly into the hull. The outer hatch slowly closed, leaving the silent universe behind once more.
Air began to fill the outer compartment, raising the pressure. Field forces simulated gravity, and the four drones, their work done, detached themselves.
A group of men and women wearing white combat suits crowded around, raising Laser Guns of different colors.
Yang Ming put his Lightsaber and Shield Gloves beneath his seat, then raised both hands along with Lina.
A thought flashed through Yang Ming's mind, but as soon as it appeared, he forcibly crushed it.
How long would it take to take this ship?
Lesser Ancient God Lifeform—Hanton's replacement—the young Earthling Yang Ming had just thought exactly that.
The Humanity Association's guards were very polite.
Yang Ming hadn't felt even the slightest disrespect.
The Landing Ship's Scissor Door slowly opened. Yang Ming climbed out of the cabin, then turned and helped Dr. Lina out.
The guards around them made no move.
A Middle-aged Man took off his Tactical Helmet, revealing slightly curled, light-golden hair and a handsome, resolute face. He nodded to Yang Ming.
"Please state your identities!"
"My name is Hanton," Yang Ming said, glancing down at his uniform. "I'm from the Sherman Empire. This is Lina, the doctor aboard our Research Ship."
"All right, Mr. Hanton," the Middle-aged Man said. "Did you have an accident?"
"Yes. The ship blew up," Yang Ming said with a shrug. "I can't say anything else."
"Oh, what a tragedy!"
The Middle-aged Man wore an expression of sincere regret and sorrow.
"If this accident was caused by our pursuit of you, then we bear some responsibility. Please forgive us for our commitment to protecting human rights. There were other Escape Pods, weren't there? We'll provide them with aid as soon as possible."
A few question marks popped into Yang Ming's mind.
The Humanity Association... was it really this easy to deal with?
"However, Mr. Hanton, and you as well, respected doctor,"
the Middle-aged Man continued:
"We must isolate you for the time being, and we'll conduct an interrogation later.
"We're certain that the Research Ship you were on was conducting extremely dangerous scientific and biological experiments that violated ethics.
"During the interrogation, if we infringe on your basic rights, you may protest at any time. We'll decide through discussion whether to correct our actions.
"Don't be nervous. You're safe now."
"Thank you for rescuing us," Yang Ming replied quietly, though he was privately muttering to himself.
A few minutes later.
Surrounded by the guards, Yang Ming and Lina walked through several silver-white corridors and arrived at a spacious compartment.
Dozens of transparent, trapezoid-shaped Glass Rooms stood in neat rows.
These Glass Rooms seemed to be the Survey Ship's "cells." Their conditions were quite good: they had a two-person sofa, a suspended entertainment screen, full wireless reception, and a temperature-controlled cabinet stocked with drinks and food.
They could even choose to make the glass on all four sides opaque.
The Middle-aged Man in the lead politely asked, "Would you two like to stay together, or would you prefer to keep your distance?"
"We need to stay together!" Dr. Lina said, a little nervously.
"Please choose your isolation room. Do you have a lucky number?"
"Let's take this one, the nearest," Yang Ming said, casually picking what he assumed was a Glass Room. Dr. Lina immediately followed him inside.
Soon, the Glass Room's door closed, and four armed soldiers took up positions in the corners.
Yang Ming sat on the soft sofa and looked at the Ordering Interface that had popped up beside him. For a moment... he didn't know how to describe it.
Was this really the Human Rights and Ethics Investigation Committee's cell?
Amazing. He loved it.
Yang Ming ordered two coffees and lounged comfortably on the sofa, recalling what he'd learned from playing Abyss and searching Hanton's memories for information about the Humanity Association.
The Humanity Association was a neutral organization under the Interstellar Court. It wasn't directly governed by any interstellar polity, and it enjoyed a stellar reputation in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even a regional hegemon like the Sherman Empire found it a serious headache.
The Humanity Association advocated protecting individuals.
The worst that could happen if you fell into the Humanity Association's hands was being sent to the Interstellar Court. The Interstellar Court was an institution jointly established by more than a hundred interstellar polities.
The one who truly feared the Humanity Association was Professor Gigrov. The association could shut down his experiments.
After thinking it through, Yang Ming relaxed even more in his seat.
Yang Ming realized that the Sherman Empire would most likely arrange to take him back;
if word got out that he was a successfully modified subject, the Sherman Empire would become his greatest threat.
Would they open a research project on him?
Or would they secretly dispose of him?
Yang Ming calmly considered the various possibilities. He thought he might not have been exposed. Those who had left before the fight in the Tail Compartment probably didn't know that an experiment had been conducted in the Backup Lab.
Lina kept pacing back and forth, looking somewhat anxious.
Dr. Lina's concern had been justified. The Survey Ship of the Humanity Association found the other two Escape Pods with little effort.
Soon, survivors from the Research Ship filled more than a dozen Glass Rooms nearby.
There were more than forty crew members, more than twenty researchers involved in the Gene Experiment, more than twenty cleaners and cooks, and over ten wounded Imperial soldiers.
The soldiers and researchers became the main focus.
When Yang Ming saw Mistress Number One, she was gazing at him with deep affection too, her eyes full of the relief of having survived a disaster.
This filled Yang Ming with a wonderful sense of anticipation for the future.
Soon, the Middle-aged Man who had "received" Yang Ming earlier arrived with a group of more than ten middle-aged and elderly humans and humanoid intelligent beings in Humanity Association uniforms. They stopped by the compartment entrance.
"Now, the person among you with the highest position and rank, please step forward to be questioned."
The Research Ship's survivors looked from one to another.
A crew member answered quietly, "The highest-ranking person left on our ship should be our Third Mate. He can represent us."
Yang Ming's expression stiffened a little.
"Good. Which one of you is the Third Mate?"
The Empire's soldiers, crew members, researchers, cleaners, and cooks all fell silent. Speaking up now would be tantamount to betraying Hanton.
"He, he is," Mistress Number One said, pointing at the Glass Room where Yang Ming was. "His name is Hanton, and he's also Professor Gigrov's confidant."
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